Hip-hop crew has a hit with song about recycling
It’s one of the hottest Quebec party jams of the year: a rap song about … recycling?
Veteran Quebec hip-hop crew Alaclair Ensemble has a viral hit on its hands with the song and video for Mets du respect dans ton bac. (Rough translation: put some respect in your recycling bin.)
Created as part of a promotional campaign for the city of Laval, it’s an idea that could have gone so wrong. Yet when approached by Montreal marketing agency Tam Tam/TBWA, the band was immediately intrigued.
“I found it to be a really intelligent proposal,” said Alaclair Ensemble rapper Eman, while admitting he and his bandmates weren’t sure they could pull it off.
“We said: ‘OK, but we don’t want to do it at any cost. It’s a nice contract, but it’s a big challenge.’ We said we would try.”
To their surprise, things moved quickly once they hit the studio. The band knew it had to come up with a killer groove, as well as lyrics that make people laugh and think, all without losing their eminent sense of cool.
“We wanted something that sticks in your head, that was educational, and that everyone understands, from kids to older people,” Eman said.
The results are infectious.
Over a rugged, bass-heavy mix, the six members trade rhymes about washing out and sorting your recyclables, throwing in sly turns of phrase that give the track a perfect dose of tongue-in-cheek authenticity.
“Métal, verre, plastique / carton, papier, that’s it!” goes the chorus.
The word “bac” is repeated in myriad ways, growing into an anthemic chant:
“Mets du respect dans ton bac / Check ce qu’y a dans ton bac / T’as perdu ton bac? / C’est qui qui a ton bac? Watch ton bac / Bac bac bac bac bac!”
The band knew it had a hit on its hands.
“Right away, we were having a blast,” Eman said. “We sent it off (to Tam Tam/TBWA) and said: ‘We really have something.’ ”
When it came time for the video, Alaclair Ensemble was given an all-access pass to the Tricentris recycling centre. The group had a great time, mingling with workers as its members rhymed for the camera while working in the production line.
“It’s hard to get a location like that,” Eman said. “There were so many things to film, all kinds of colours, locations, trucks.”
Launched Wednesday, the video had been viewed nearly 1.5 million times by Monday afternoon, garnering 20,000 shares, 15,000 likes and 4,300 comments on the city of Laval’s Facebook page. The vast majority of commenters echoed Julien Lacoste’s enthusiasm: “Je déménage à Laval that’s it!”
For a city long seen as a not-so-cool Montreal suburb, it’s a vindication of sorts.
“It’s beyond all our expectations,” said Virginie Dufour, Laval councillor for Ste-Rose and executive committee member responsible for the environment.
Dufour admitted she and other city representatives were both excited and nervous about the idea.
“On paper we weren’t too sure where it was going, but we said, ‘Let’s try.’ We felt a lot of enthusiasm from the group, so we said, ‘OK, let’s take a chance.’ It was a calculated risk. We didn’t know how the public would react to a rap song.”
Needless to say, it has been a resounding success. The video was played for students at Dufour’s seven-year-old daughter’s school, and now her daughter can’t stop singing the song when putting things in the recycling, which is precisely the point.
Over at Tam Tam/TBWA, group account director Audrey Lefebvre was taking it all in.
“We’re surprised, but not,” she said. “It was our wish, our dream, to spark the collective imagination and create a cultural dance. Now every time people take out their bac, they’ll have no choice but to sing this song.”
Lefebvre’s six-year-old is also singing along.
Tam Tam/TBWA has a continuing contract with Laval, she explained, adding from the moment they were asked to create something engaging on the topic of recycling that would stand out and change the habits of citizens, they knew they wanted a rap song.
The key to the project’s success, she opined, was that her company — and the city of Laval — gave the band free rein.
For Alaclair Ensemble, the timing couldn’t be better. The group, which has members from Quebec City and Montreal, recently won the ADISQ award for rap album of the year for last year’s Le sens des paroles, and just released a mixtape, America, Vol. 2.
“We’re really in a good creative phase right now,” Eman said.